Here’s a pretty picture perfect scene of fireworks exploding behind a C-130 Hercules airplane at Yokota Air Base, Japan. I like to imagine all those fanciful blue explosions as a swarm of alien planes that are waiting to come back to the mothership Hercules. Or something like that. »7/11/15 1:37pm 7/11/15 1:37pm

A 1,650-foot long, 18-foot wide fireworks “ladder,” made of steel and gunpowder, lit up the sky over Quanzhou, China. The ladder, which used a balloon to loft it high above the ground, was the dream of Cai Guoqiang, the same artist who produced the incredible fireworks display during the Beijing Olympics. »7/05/15 8:57am 7/05/15 8:57am

A horrible thing has happened today in China's Henan Province. A truck loaded to the gills with fireworks—intended for the country's upcoming Lunar New Year celebration—fired off its wares on a busy highway, leading to six minutes of the most brightly lit, celebratory destruction in recent memory. »2/01/13 8:53am 2/01/13 8:53am

If you were curious exactly how much fireworks fun you're legally allowed to have tomorrow—or how far you'll have to travel to buy the good stuff—look no further than this handy map of state-by-state fireworks legality. UPDATED:»7/04/10 10:45am 7/04/10 10:45am

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." (Photo Credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)»7/02/10 5:30pm 7/02/10 5:30pm